Deadline on Tuesday launched the streaming site for Contenders Film: Documentary, the latest edition of the showcase that shines a spotlight on the year’s buzziest nonfiction features. The virtual event took place Sunday. Click here to launch the streaming site. A total of 12 movies made…

Unidentified flying objects and Area 51 are conspiracy theories no more. Director Dan Farah interviewed 34 government officials who validate the existence of visitors from space in The Age of Disclosure. He told Deadline's Matt Carey at Contenders Documentary event that it no longer is just…

Giuseppe Verdi composed some of the greatest operas ever – La Traviata, Il Trovatore, Rigoletto, Aida, Otello and many others. But he regarded his finest accomplishment not as a particular opera but another great project: the building of a retirement home for singers and musicians.  Casa Verdi&nbsp…

Abraham Joffe has documented wildlife in the ocean and the Arctic in films including Ghosts of the Arctic, Our Oceans and Big Cat Tales. While on an Arctic trip in 2013, he learned about the polar bear trade and set out to investigate it. The result is Trade Secret, and Joffe told Deadline's Matt…

The documentary short The Hemingway captures co-director Patrick Sean O'Brien's life with ALS. O'Brien reached out to longtime collaborator Evan Mathis with a script asking for help bringing it to fruition. The pair spoke with Deadline's Matt Carey at Contenders Documentary about their short, and…

Songwriter Diane Warren will do anything to get a great singer to record one of her tunes – up to and including latching onto their leg and refusing to let go until they agree. Such was the case with Cher, who initially hated the Warren song "If I Could Turn Back Time." That skirmish is one of…

Dog Warriors is about South Korean markets that sell dog meat. It explores the dog farms that slaughter the animals in inhumane ways. And yet, director Andrew Abrahams assures viewers the film is not as traumatizing as the description makes it sound. At Deadline's Contenders Documentary event…

Ai Weiwei mounted a production of Puccini's Turandot at the Rome Opera House amid the Covid pandemic recovery and the war in Ukraine. It also was Weiwei's first opera. Maxim Derevianko, director of the documentary Ai Weiwei's Turandot, said the very nature of art with a message was what he wanted to…

Maciej Drygas' documentary Trains uses archival footage to depict the history of the locomotive industry in the 20th century. Using private archives, some never-before-seen footage and even educational films, the film takes viewers on a metaphorical as well as historical journey. Drygas spoke with…

Complicated follows several children with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and their parents trying to get care. Not only are doctors unable to diagnose EDS, but they accuse the parents of child abuse when they are unable to come up with a diagnosis. Director Andrew Abrahams said this complicated scenario…

The founders of Led Zeppelin have been reluctant to speak about their work throughout their careers. So the two-hour documentary Becoming Led Zeppelin is a landmark of material, especially because it was made with the participation of Jimmy Page and Robert Plant. Director Bernard MacMahon…

In May 2019, the UN Special Rapporteur for Torture examined Julian Assange in a UK prison, where the WikiLeaks founder was incarcerated after Ecuador forced him out of its embassy in London. Rapporteur Nils Nelzer concluded Assange "showed all symptoms typical for prolonged exposure to psychological…